Desert Consecration

Israel is camping at the base of the mountain of God and I stop here with them.  God sends instructions for the people to consecrate themselves.   They are to wash their clothes and be ready.  Daily I stand at the crossroads, will I choose to stay consecrated?  Considering the words that pour from lips, choice of music or television, the decisions of how to spend time and money?  What do the choices say about my relationship to God?

I looked up the word consecrated in Webster’s it is defined as “to declare or set apart as sacred, to dedicate, to make sacred (holy).” 

“Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?…That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and by the Spirit of our God.”  1 Corinthians 6:10-11

Sanctified carries the same connection in the New Testament with the word hagiazó meaning “to make holy, consecrate, sanctify.”   I stand at the base of the mountain and gaze upward, perhaps as the children of Israel did and I find…

“And mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.”  Exodus 19:18

Jehovah descended upon another mountain in the form of Jesus who lay down His life on the cross.  The mountain is filled with smoke, it quakes, and the God of heaven is the one who consecrates.  Through Jesus I am washed and sanctified.  I SEE GOD FOR WHO HE IS…One who consecrates His own – He has set me apart and makes me holy. 

I navigate the crossroad longing to pursue holiness.  Sin is costly and I have been stained with His glory.  He has consecrated this life.  When I see God for who He is I am grieved when I do not live a consecrated life. I rejoice when His Spirit gives me the ability to repent and walk a consecrated life. 

I am brought back to this verse…

“…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…

but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15